Refuge from the Ashes
by everlarklullaby
Summary: When the bombs rained down on District 12, everybody either died or was evacuated into 13. Except for Jacob and Ariya, their struggle to survive, together.


"Jacob, there's no food or water here, and there's nothing we can do about it." I say frustrated. He looks at me hopelessly as he then rescans the area for the fifth time. A barren wasteland unfit for life whatsoever, no matter how many times you look at it. "Well, what are we supposed to do, Ariya? Sit and wait for our deaths bit by bit?" He says retorting at me. "There has to be something left… something." He says the last word whispering like a child, his eyes wide staring off into nowhere. "It's not like there's more food than the was before." I mumble. It wasn't always like this. Up until Katniss Everdeen shot her arrow through the force field, it was my home, it wasn't much, but I knew District 12 like the palm of my hand. Now, there is nothing.

We sit behind the pile of rubble that used to be the Justice Building, exhausted. It's the first time we've been able to sit down and rest. Our energy is draining slowly but surely. "Are you sure there's nothing left there?" I ask. He sticks his head into the sack again and sighs. I sigh as well, that sack kept us going for the last three days. Jacob took it from his under the floorboard of his living room. I remember it clearly; we were watching the Games from Jacob's living room, just the two of us. His parents had gone to bed along with his siblings. His father tired from mining all day and his mother scraping to feed her family. The Games was reaching its climax, with the alliance planning to electrify the ocean. I had resorted to biting my nails. I remember saying, "I wonder what's going to happen, I wouldn't be able to be any of them, with that kind of pressure." It really was just me thinking out loud. "Yeah, me too." Jacob had whispered, his mind clearly on the science of the alliance and their plans, or that's what I had thought. Then slowly I felt Jacob's hand slipping into mine. At first I was surprised, but a good kind. I had liked Jacob ever since I could remember, slowly progressing into a secret love that I could no longer control. He squeezed my hand, "Don't worry, everything is going to be alright, trust me." He looked into my eyes with his mesmerizing green ones. I believed him, at that moment I would have believed anything he'd say. But neither of us knew how wrong he really was.

When the bombs began to rain, it sounded like the end of the world. Because that's what it was, what little of a normal life I had was being demolished all around me. Everything was a blur, but I was overcome with a primal instinct. _Family. I have to find my family. _ "Ariya! Where are you going? Come back!" Jacob yelled after me. But I had to find them, somehow. Although landmarks I used to get home were not there, I could travel to my house from Jacob's with a blindfold on. That's what it felt like, with so many tears clouding my vision. I ran and ran as fast I could, but when I got there, it was a pile of black where I could not make out anything. Smoke billowing and ashes creating an impenetrable barrier. "Ariya." Somebody grabbed me around the shoulders. _Mom? Dad? _"Come on, we have to take shelter!" _Jacob. "_We don't have much time! Another bomb could fall at any minute, we have to go!" he was losing patience. I let myself go, I became a doll, at the mercy of whatever Jacob decided to do with me. I ran at his command to the woods. Lastly, I remember being cradled in his arms, with him lulling me into a deep numb sleep and wiping away my tears. The sky an inky black with the trees offering no view of the inferno on the other side of District fence.

"Ariya!" Jacob rips me from my memories with a whisper-shout. "Someone's coming. Get down." he says. He must be going delirious already. But he's not, because I hear footsteps just as Jacob pulls me down. Since we are both covered in a fine but impermeable layer of coal dust, we are free to peek over the remains of the building to see who has crossed over into no-man's land. A human. I want to jump out and hug them, whoever they are. "H-" my shout for recognition is silenced by Jacob's hand slapped on my mouth. "What are you thinking?!" He says through gritted teeth, "They could be from the Capitol!" _Of course. How could I have been so stupid? It must be the lack of food. But I'm used to that . _The character hasn't noticed. We go back up to see who it is, they are wearing a headset and seem to be wrestling with a bag and have a long dark braid tracing the outline of their jacket. Katniss Everdeen has stopped to visit what she destroyed.


End file.
